In the wake of the UN Security Council face-off with Russia and China, a new dangerous phase of the war on Syria is unfolding. The Obama administration, in liaison with London, Paris, Tel Aviv and NATO headquarters in Brussels, is mulling over various military “intervention options”, including the conduct of both naval and air operations in support of “opposition” rebel forces on the ground.

The dubious justification for waging a “humanitarian war” on Syria hinges upon the West’s “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) the Syrian people against their own government, which allegedly is involved in the routine killing of civilians.

In the aftermath of the battle of Damascus and the setbacks of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reiterated Washington’s threat of military intervention, accusing Syrian government forces of waging “a tragic attack on their own people”. The Defense Secretary vowed not only to unseat the Syrian president, but also, in so many words, “to get rid of” Bashar Al Assad:

… I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad’s own coffin,.. What Assad has been doing to his own people and what he continues to do to his own people makes clear that his regime is coming to an end. It’s lost all legitimacy,” he said, adding, “It’s no longer a question of whether he’s coming to an end, it’s when.” (Quoted in Syria says it recaptures Aleppo district after battle, [2]Reuters, July 29, 2012, emphasis added)

Meanwhile, Moscow has accused the US led coalition of supporting the terrorist attacks committed by the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) and Al Qaeda affiliated entities operating inside Syria.

It is important at this historical juncture to set the record straight as to who is behind these atrocities and crimes against humanity, particularly in view of the fact that the Obama administration and its allies are contemplating outright military intervention against Syria on “humanitarian grounds”.

Who is behind the Atrocities?

Whereas the government bears a burden of responsibility pertaining to the conduct of its military operations in urban areas directed against the rebels, the gruesome human rights record of the US-NATO supported “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) is unequivocal. Amply documented, the killings of innocent civilians were not carried by the government but, quite deliberately, by the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

The Arab League Observer mission report was subsequently shelved because it revealed the forbidden truth, namely that the US-NATO sponsored “rebels” rather than the government were behind the massacres.

A report of Der Spiegel (March 29, 2012) entitled “An Executioner for Syria’s Rebels Tells His Story”, [5]confirms an organized process of mass-murder and extra-judicial killing of civilians conducted by the Free Syrian Army (FSA). This single “burial brigade”, according to the executioner’s testimony, was responsible for the arbitrary execution of 350-400 people including “prisoners” and “traitors”. The “traitors” are Sunni civilians within the occupied urban and rural areas, who express their opposition to the rule of terror of the Free Syrian Army (FSA):

“Since last summer, we have executed slightly fewer than 150 men, which represents about 20 percent of our prisoners,” says Abu Rami. … But the executioners of Homs have been busier with traitors within their own ranks than with prisoners of war. “If we catch a Sunni spying, or if a citizen betrays the revolution, we make it quick,” says the fighter. According to Abu Rami, Hussein’s burial brigade has put between 200 and 250 traitors to death since the beginning of the uprising.” (Der Spiegel, March 29, 2012)[5]

The Vatican News Service Agenzia Fides largely confirms that the Western backed “opposition forces” rather than the Al Assad government are responsible for countless atrocities:

“The Syrian soldiers in fact, continue to face foreign fighters, mercenaries Libyans, Lebanese militants from the Gulf, Afghans, Turks. “The Sunni Salafist militants – says the Bishop – continue to commit crimes against civilians, or to recruit fighters with force. The fanatical Sunni extremists are fighting a holy war proudly, especially against the Alawites. When terrorists seek to control the religious identity of a suspect, they ask him to cite the genealogies dating back to Moses. And they ask to recite a prayer that the Alawites removed. The Alawites have no chance to get out alive.” (Agenzia Fides, Vatican News Service, 4 June 2012[6])

Russian journalist Marat Musin in a comprehensive report dispels the lies and fabrications of the Western media.

The report is based on a chronology of events as well as eyewitness accounts. Entire pro-government families in Houla were massacred. The terrorists were not pro-government shabbiha militia as conveyed, in chorus, by the mainstream media, they were in large part mercenaries and professional killers operating under the auspices of the self-proclaimed Free Syrian Army (FSA):

“When the rebels seized the lower checkpoint in the center of town and located next to the local police department, they began to sweep all the families loyal to the authorities in neighboring houses, including the elderly, women and children.

Several families of the Al-Sayed were killed, including 20 young children and the family of Abdul Razak. The people were killed with knives and shot at point blank range.

According to a detailed report by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ):

“Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities. …. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the internet.” (Neue Erkenntnisse zu Getöteten von Hula.Abermals Massaker in Syrien[8], Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 7, 2012)

The recently released “Intelligence Estimates” of Germany’s Bundes Nachrichtendienst (BND) states that “‘around 90 [terror attacks] can be attributed to organizations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups’ (January through June 2012) as reported by the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)”. (quoted in English by John Rosenthal, German intelligence: al-Qaeda all over Syria The Asian Times, [9]July 24, 2012).

The above mainstream media reports –together with an extensive body of evidence contained in independent alternative media reports– confirm unequivocally that crimes against humanity are being committed by terrorist militia.

We are at a very dangerous crossroads. An all out “humanitarian war” against Syria is on the drawing board of the Pentagon, which, if carried out, could lead the World into a regional war extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to the heartland of Central Asia.

It is essential to reverse the tide of war propaganda which uses civilian deaths as a pretext to wage war on humanitarian grounds, when those killings of civilians were carried out not by government forces but by professional terrorists operating under the helm of the US-NATO sponsored Free Syrian Army (FSA).

[3] SYRIA: Killing Innocent Civilians as part of a US Covert Op. Mobilizing Public Support for a R2P War against Syria: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=31122

[4] League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria, Report of the Head of the League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria for the period from 24 December 2011 to 18 January 2012: http://globalresearch.ca/Report_of_Arab_League_Observer_Mission.pdf